


Little Things

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 634
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22128928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: Sometimes the little things are all the more aggravating because they'relittle things.
Kudos: 1
Collections: Pillars of Eternity Prompts Weekly





	Little Things

**Author's Note:**

> For Pillars prompt fill 104, sorry it's short, Thaos is not one of my stronger character voices.

The Master was upset. Less than furious, more than peeved. Annoyed, perhaps. Irritated. She could tell by the pinch of his brows, the tense set of his shoulders, the way his words clipped off, stilted and sharp. Little things that marked his mood.

Tilli was never happy when the Master was upset. It was her job to keep things running smoothly, and that pinch in his brows meant she was failing at her job. She couldn’t abide failing.

So she put on a sweet, deferential smile, cleared her throat, and asked, “What troubles you, Excellency? I know today didn’t yield the progress we’d hoped, but it’s nothing we can’t overcome.”

He smiled grimly, turning over a small copper object in his hand. “Do you know what this is?” He held it up--a disc half the size of Tilli’s palm, thin at the edges and sloping to a half inch thickness in the middle, covered in etched runes she couldn’t read.

“I’m afraid I must claim ignorance, Master Thaos,” Tilli confessed, bowing her head so he wouldn’t see how tight her jaw had clenched at this second shortfall. Small as it might be, it galled her to have _two_ so close together.

“Of course you must,” he said, tone somewhere between mocking and resigned. “The world rolls on, does it not?” He wrapped his hand once more around the disc, and as Tilli stared up through her eyelashes, she’d swear his contemplative look bordered on wistful. “This, my child, is a Woedican prayer coin, a way of showing one had the favor of The Queen That Was. They are etched with prayers to Her we serve, rare and highly prized. Priests would dedicate entire lifetimes to Her service before entertaining the merest hope of receiving one, and now...” He scowled and set the coin on his desk, tracing a finger over the runes before he steepled his hands and looked at her. “And now those days are so far past, this treasure can be purchased for naught but a few coppers from a vagrant merchant’s stall. A pretty bauble to distract a whining child or serve as a simpleton’s lucky charm.”

Tilli winced. Her position in their endeavors included correcting things that displeased him, but there wasn’t really any way she could make _that_ better. All she could think to say was, “I understand why that would trouble you, Excellency,” and it seemed woefully inadequate.

Master Thaos chuckled darkly. “You have always been more... insightful than your fellows, child, which is why you are more trusted. It is but a small annoyance, however, and our world will carry on as the world does.” His eyes gleamed as he looked between her and the coin, then slid it across the desk toward her. “Consider it a reminder of what you should aspire to.”

Tilli hesitated before she reached for it. After that somber explanation, she wasn’t sure she was half as devoted as the coin was meant to show. She cradled the cool metal in her palm before raising near-worshipful eyes to the Master’s face. “I shall do so,” she vowed, curling her fingers around the talisman.

Thaos gave a curt nod and waved her off. “You may go, acolyte. Prepare yourself for the work ahead.”

Tilli inclined her head and left the room. Her gaze dropped to the coin as she walked, marveling at the quality of the engraving. Perhaps, if she could learn what it said, speak the prayers to Woedica, she could greater aid the Master’s work, and that would help soothe the annoyance of little incidents like this. She was nothing if not a helper.

Mind set, fingers curled around the coin protectively, Tilli strode the library. Between the Master’s instruction and her own plans, she had some reading to do.


End file.
